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George Fernandes
George Fernandes | |
|---|---|
.jpg) George Fernandes in 2002 | |
| Minister of Defence | |
| In office 21 October 2001 – 22 May 2004 | |
| Prime Minister | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
| Preceded by | Jaswant Singh |
| Succeeded by | Pranab Mukherjee |
| In office 19 March 1998 – 16 March 2001 | |
| Prime Minister | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
| Preceded by | Mulayam Singh Yadav |
| Succeeded by | Jaswant Singh |
| Union Minister of Railways | |
| In office 2 December 1989 – 10 November 1990 | |
| Prime Minister | V. P. Singh |
| Preceded by | Madhav Rao Scindia |
| Succeeded by | Janeshwar Mishra |
| Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha for Bihar | |
| In office 4 August 2009 – 7 July 2010 | |
| Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha | |
| In office 2004–2009 | |
| Preceded by | Jai Narain Prasad Nishad |
| Succeeded by | Jai Narain Prasad Nishad |
| In office 1989–1996 | |
| Preceded by | Laliteshwar Prasad Shahi |
| Succeeded by | Jai Narain Prasad Nishad |
| In office 1977–1984 | |
| Preceded by | Nawal Kishore Sinha |
| Succeeded by | Laliteshwar Prasad Shahi |
| Constituency | Muzaffarpur, Bihar |
| In office 1996–2004 | |
| Preceded by | Vijay Kumar Yadav |
| Succeeded by | Nitish Kumar |
| Constituency | Nalanda, Bihar |
| In office 1967–1971 | |
| Preceded by | Sadashiv Kanoji Patil |
| Succeeded by | Kailas Narain Narula Shivnarain |
| Constituency | Mumbai South, Maharashtra |
| Personal details | |
| Born | George Mathew Fernandes 3 June 1930 Mangalore, Madras Presidency, British India (present-day Mangaluru, Karnataka, India) |
| Died | 29 January 2019 (aged 88) New Delhi, India |
| Political party | Samata Party[1][2] |
| Other political affiliations | |
| Spouse | Leila Kabir |
| Children | 1 son |
| Residence(s) | Bangalore, Karnataka, India |
| Awards | Padma Vibhushan (2020) (posthumously) |
| Signature |  |
| Source: [1] | |
George Mathew Fernandes[3] (3 June 1930 – 29 January 2019) was an Indian trade unionist, statesman,[4] and journalist,[5] who served as the Defence Minister of India from 1998 until 2004. A veteran socialist, he was a member of the Lok Sabha for over 30 years, starting from Bombay (present-day Mumbai) in 1967 till 2009 mostly representing constituencies from Bihar.[6] He was a key member of the Janata Dal and the founder of the Samata Party.[7] Holding several prominent ministerial portfolios during his career, including communication, industry, railways, and defence,[8] he was posthumously awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award, in 2020.[9][10][11][12]
A native of Mangalore, Fernandes was sent to Bangalore in 1946 to be trained as a priest. In 1949, he moved to Bombay, where he joined the socialist trade union movement. Becoming a trade union leader, Fernandes organised many strikes and bandhs in Bombay in the 1950s and 1960s while working with the Indian Railways. He defeated S K Patil of the Indian National Congress in the 1967 parliamentary elections from the Bombay South constituency. As president of the All India Railwaymen's Federation, he led the 1974 railways strike. Fernandes went underground during the Emergency era of 1975, while challenging Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for imposing a state of emergency,[13] but in 1976 he was arrested and tried in the infamous Baroda dynamite case.
In 1977, after the Emergency had been lifted, Fernandes won the Muzaffarpur seat in Bihar in absentia. As industries minister, he revoked the licences for multinationals IBM and Coca-Cola to operate in India, due to investment violations. As railways minister from 1989 to 1990 he was the driving force behind the Konkan Railway project. As defence minister in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led second and third Atal Bihari Vajpayee ministries (1998–2004), he oversaw the outbreak of the Kargil War and the implementation of nuclear tests at Pokhran. Fernandes has been dogged by various controversies, including the Barak Missile scandal and the Tehelka affair. George Fernandes won nine Lok Sabha elections from 1967 to 2004.[14] He died on 29 January 2019 at the age of 88.[15]
- ^ "SAMATA PARTY – Official Website". Retrieved 30 April 2022.
- ^ Gupta, Smita (24 October 2013). "Now a Samata Manch to build anti-Congress platform". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 26 December 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
- ^ Reddy 1977, p. 144 "(i) Accused George Mathew Fernandes (hereinafter referred to as George Fernandes) was the former Chairman of the Socialist Party of India and also the President of the All India Railway- men's Federation."
- ^ Sharma, Surender (1 July 2010). "By George! It's out on the street". MiD DAY. Archived from the original on 16 September 2012. Retrieved 3 September 2010.
As if it had not earned enough bad name and publicity for one of the most veteran politicians and trade unionist George Fernandes, claimants to his legacy slug it out in streets on Wednesday.
- ^ "Biographical Sketch (Member of Parliament: 13th Lok Sabha)". Parliament of India. Archived from the original on 12 August 2010. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
- ^ "Shri George Fernandes General Information". Government of Bihar. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 3 September 2010.
- ^ "Flaming torch a free symbol, EC can allot it to any other party: Delhi HC dismisses Samata Party's appeal". The Indian Express. 19 November 2022. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
- ^ "Fernandes: Popular but controversial minister". BBC. 15 March 2001. Archived from the original on 11 February 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2010.
- ^ "George Fernandes, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj conferred Padma awards". www.business-standard.com. Press Trust of India. 9 November 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
- ^ "Padma awards for George, Vashishtha & six others from state". The Times of India. 26 January 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
- ^ "Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, George Fernandes given Padma Vibhushan posthumously. Here's full list of Padma award recipients". The Economic Times. 26 January 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
- ^ "MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS" (PDF). padmaawards.gov.in. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
- ^ "Why despite several controversial moves, George Fernandes continues to inspire us". www.dailyo.in.
- ^ "The loneliness of George Fernandes". The Hindu. 21 April 2009 – via www.thehindu.com.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
TheHindu2019_janwas invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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